A Positively Poetic Priest

28 July 2015 Proper 8B O God, the foundation of the world rests in you; grant us a firm foundation in all our relationships, encourage our hope and faith in you, and wrap us in your familial love, through the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Last summer I attended my cousin’s wedding. Now my cousin has unfortunately been very sick off and on most of her life. She has had normal illnesses, cancer, and some uncommon ones, like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. About every six months, she ends up being hospitalized for something. During the wedding, during the exchange of vows, her very soon to be husband started giggling. “For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, giggle… to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” When he started giggling, we all started giggling. Someday we all hope that he will know what life with my cousin is like when she is healthy.  Good, loving relationships are healing. There is healing in relat...

21 June 2015 Proper 7B Heavenly Father, in whom darkness is light and the storms of life calm, help us to remember your presence in our daily lives, give us the peace that comes from knowing you are at work, and show us how we may shine with your grace, through your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.  We've all been through scary situations in life. Met with some scary people. Faced the unknown in ways we would rather not have done at all. Fisherman, in particular, seem to be a group that take risks. It might just be their large tails/tales, which always seem to get bigger after the fact. I am reminded of that movie, the Perfect Storm. Or even the Titanic. Being out on the sea is putting yourself into the unknown. We do not control the wind, the water, the waves, the sea, and all its power.  This last week, we had a little taste of this with the tropical storm that passed through. In some places it was worse than expected. In some places it was much better. We cannot ever know.  The...

31 May 2015 O God of infinite possibilities, you have revealed yourself in so many ways. Help us to see you in your work of recreating the world in love, justice, and peace, through your Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I love to ask questions. When I went to college my father looked at me and said, “I’m so glad I can finally pay someone else to answer all your questions.” Apparently I asked him a few too many questions as a kid. We all know those children, the little ones that wander around asking why every time you say something. After only a little while, How? And Why? Become the worst two words in the history of the English language.  Some questions come about simply through curiosity. We want to know how or why something is the way it is. Some are simply practical. What time should we meet? Where would you like to meet? What do you need from the store? Some are more culturally or politically influenced. Since moving to Texas, the rate at which I have bee...

28 May 2015 O Eternal God, who helps us move from one place in our lives to another, bless our graduates this day as they move forward into a new place in their lives. Grant to all of us the knowledge that we can trust you to be with us wherever we go, through your holy Name we pray. Amen.  There is a book called, All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. It is a book of essays, sermons, and stories. One of the essays takes lessons we all learn in kindergarten and applies them to grown up life. One of those lessons is, “Hold hands and stick together.” Most of us know this rule under the guise of the Buddy system. For many of us in the room, the buddy system is a natural part of our day to day lives. Each of us has to work together with the other students in our classes or other adults on our teams to safely complete our projects. A great example is last week's Olympic Day or chapel buddies. Our younger students each had an older student as their...